With long-term team sponsors like Oleg Tinkov and Rabobank walking away from cycling recently (albeit for different reasons), you could be forgiven for thinking no one (James Murdoch aside) wants to fund a cycling team any more.

“Going back into cycling was a clear strategic move,” Doerrenberg told Marketing magazine. “We’re doing it for business, not for pleasure.”

“We were quite convinced that cycling, as many people say, is the new golf and so cycling is a global sport. The Tour de France is the biggest yearly global sports event, so of course riding was the terrific chance to bring the brand into 130 countries with just one activity.

“You can see a clear global trend, specifically in developed countries, where people between 25 and 45 prefer to cycle instead of playing golf.

“That’s mainly driven by the idea that it’s much better for your fitness to cycle than to play golf. Golf takes longer but I think the whole fitness idea, the whole idea of health and being self-responsible, fits perfectly with our encouraging men to take Alpecin early enough not to lose their hair or to lose much less than they would otherwise.”